Coimbatore civic body grapples with funds crunch

Coimbatore civic body grapples with funds crunch

The civic body is desperate for the funds to pay off contractors and meet its maintenance expenses.

The Corporation yet to get central finance commission funds

The
financially weakening civic body has just received a blow - it has not
yet received the quarterly disbursement of central finance commission
funds for the last quarter of last financial year and the first quarter
of the current financial year.

Sources in the civic body said that
the disbursement for two quarters was around Rs. 30 crore and this is a
big blow as the total outstanding had reportedly crossed Rs. 250 crore.

Officials, however, said the Corporation’s finances were not worse.

Every
year, the Central Government paid the Corporation and several other
urban local bodies money under the ‘central finance commission’ head.
The Corporation had been getting Rs. 60 crore a financial year, in four
instalments of Rs. 15 crore each.

This time though the Government
did not disburse the money saying it would not do so as there was no
elected body - Corporation Council, the sources said that other urban
local bodies in the State had suffered a similar fate.

For the
Coimbatore Corporation this had come a big blow as the civic body was
desperate for the funds to pay off contractors and meet its operation
and maintenance expenses. As of September 2017, the total outstanding
had crossed Rs. 250 crore, the sources said and added that the civic
body owed the contractors who had completed work, manpower contractors
who supplied workers, street light maintenance contractors and many
others.

The last time the Corporation paid the contractors was
sometime in January this year and that too it was a pittance - for
contractors to whom it owned in crores of rupees the Corporation paid
only a few lakhs, contractors said.

Officials not wanting to be
named only confirmed this. They said the situation had turned from bad
to worse. They pointed out that the situation was so bad that street
light contractors were not repairing faulty lights as the civic body had
not paid them for long.

The Corporation recently sacked 300 or so
contract conservancy workers. Though the reason proffered was poor
work, the truth was that the Corporation did not have money to engage
them, the officials added.

Similarly, the Corporation was also yet
to clear the dues for agencies that operated upon street dogs under the
animal birth control programme. Sources in the know said the the
Corporation had requested the agencies to not submit fresh bills until
the pending ones were cleared.

The officials also said that even
the recent water connection deposit revision and property reassessment
exercises would not help the civic body escape the abyss as the money
estimated to flow in to the coffers was far less than what was needed.

Senior
officials, however, disputed the figures and statements and said the
total outstanding was only around Rs. 150 crore. The recent revision
exercises, coupled with grants expected from the State Government would
help the Corporation. The turn around would happen soon and by the end
of this calendar year the Corporation would be returning to good
financial health.